I studied Communications and found it enlightening that communication is a 2-way process. More succintly, it is bi-modal. It requires a transmitter, and a receiver. It requires a message to be encoded and transmitted, and for that message to be decoded and interpreted.

The distance between what was prior to encoding, and post decoding is the clarity of the communique.

Working with product organizations, I've observed how important sharing common language and symbols is to helping teams work effectively with each other.

Person 1: Symbols A -> Interpretation 1 Person 2: Symbols A -> Interpretation 2